Dust buried a car. / Provided

A black blizzard over Prowers Co., Colorado, 1937. (Western History Collection, University of Oklahoma) / Provided

Patricia Wakida, visual artist and historian / Provided

A dust cloud approaches a small town in Oklahoma. / Provided

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They say to really know someone or something you have to go out there and walk in their shoes and live in their environment for a while.

Only then can you truly understand.

The eager staff at Salinas' National Steinbeck Center will soon take this sentiment to heart when they embark on a 10-day road trip, stretching from Oklahoma to California along historic Route 66. It’s part of the center's commemoration of next year’s 75th anniversary of John Steinbeck’s masterwork novel, “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Starting on Oct. 4 a team from the center, consisting of artists, curators and others will depart Sallisaw, OK and head west stopping every day to conduct interviews with folks encountered out on the road as well as to give historical lectures and organize forums focusing on the parallels between Steinbeck’s novel and modern-day real life.

“Very few works of American literature have inspired social change to the degree that ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ did,” said Colleen Bailey, the Center’s executive director. “The National Steinbeck Center hopes to inspire a new generation to read John Steinbeck’s work, to understand its relevance, and to take social action to improve the lives of others.”

The 1939 novel details the tragic and gritty lives of the fictional Joad family as they travel from Dust Bowl-era Oklahoma to the verdant fields of California. “The Grapes of Wrath” chronicles the family as they search for prosperity during the Great Depression in what is a story that all too easily resonates with the economic hardships that many Americans continue to suffer today in the wake of 2008’s "Great Recession."

According to Elizabeth Welden-Smith, a curator at the center and one of the trip leaders, the team should arrive in Arvin, Calif. — aka “Weed Patch Camp” — ten days later, having traveled some 1,700 miles in the process.

Welden-Smith said the team seeks answers to three critical questions inspired by Steinbeck’s book: What keeps you going? What do you turn to in hard times? What brings you joy when times are tough?

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The answers to those questions and all the works created by the traveling artists — playwright Octavio Solis, visual artist Patricia Wakida and filmmaker P.J. Palmer — will be placed on display at the center in April in time for Grapes of Wrath’s 75th anniversary and for the annual 2014 Steinbeck Festival on May 2-4.

“In our own way, we really want to take America’s economic and social temperature,” Welden-Smith said. “This road trip also allows us to let people know about us and what we do. For us, it’s a completely new way for the center to engage folks. I’m excited to be a part of it.”

Hoopla over everything Steinbeck is expected to reach a fever pitch next year with the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of “The Grapes of Wrath.” Not only is movie director Steven Spielberg expected to release a remake of Wrath, equally talented filmmaker Ron Howard is said to be busy preparing a remake of another of Steinbeck’s most famous (and Salinas Valley-based) novels, “East of Eden.”

“We’re seeing a wave of renewed interest in John’s works. It’s only natural and appropriate that we take advantage of that,” Welden-Smith said.

Jeff Mitchell is a senior writer at The Salinas Californian. His column “Under the Dome” which follows local politics and government is one of the most popular features of the paper. Email him at jemitchell@thecalifornian.com or follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter/calunderthedome